Search Site

Step 1

Pick a name for your site.

Do you want your own website? Are you looking for a website developer for yourself or your business? When I started out as a web developer, most of the websites used to be developed with HTML and CSS codes, probably even flash. But now, the entire condition has changed. You no longer need the knowledge of these languages, and hence no longer need to hire a web developer to build your own website.

Why Web Building Platforms came into existence?

With the vast improvement in the field of web and how websites are developed, different content management system (CMS) have been developed that makes your entire work code-free. You don't have to write a single piece of code, but you just have to choose a theme that you love and install on your website. You can also customize it in your own way just with drag-and-drop. These platforms known as CMS can also be considered as website building platform or tool. They perform all the coding automatically, and you just have to enter your information to store in your website.

These platforms allow you to create your own website and customize it in the way you like by changing the way it looks just with the click of your mouse. You can also create different pages just with a simple embedded text editor in these platforms, which allow you to format the text in any way you like just as you do with Microsoft Word. Here's an example of how the embedded text editor in these platforms look like:

How to Make a Website | WordPress WYSIWYG

Most Popular Content Management Systems in 2018

There are thousands of different web building platforms that lets you build your own website without writing a single piece of code. The number of web building platforms, also known as "content management systems", is increasing day-by-day since there are tons of web developers who keep developing these platforms that lets you create your own website. While there are these new and upcoming web building platforms in one place, the most popular platform is WordPress.

Every web building platforms are similar and provide similar features as well as have similar functionality. But, WordPress is a easier-to-use platform that anyone can use without a single knowledge of anything except writing thing. WordPress has been powering millions of websites since its first version was released over 15 years ago. Since the time it was started in 2003, it has been developed in several other languages since it is open-source and it has also paved way for many other platforms to build great looking websites. While anyone can use WordPress to create their website, you can use it too. It's very simple and you can have your own website within minutes.

How to Make a Website | Most Popular Content Management Systems

WordPress isn't the only web building platform that you can use to develop your own website. There are tons of other different platforms including Joomla! and Drupal which are the most popular among all after WordPress in the first place.

Even though Joomla!, Drupal, Magento, Movable Type, and others are making their own mark as amazing web building platforms, there are several reasons why I prefer WordPress, why everyone prefers WordPress and why you need to prefer WordPress if you are a beginner. There are millions of different websites built without using any of these platforms, just with few languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. But, these aren't recommended for you unless you are going to hire a web developer.

WordPress vs Others, Why I prefer WordPress and Why You should too?

WordPress or Custom Built Sites

WordPress or Custom Built Sites? If you are a beginner, you need to learn a lot of languages to build your own custom website. To learn HTML completely with no previous knowledge, it will take you a month. But, HTML is just to define your site's content. What about its design and functionality? To design your site, you need to learn CSS, JavaScript, etc. which will take you more than a couple of months to turn out to become a professional. You can build a professional website just with these 3 languages. However, you want your website to be dynamic. You can do so with JavaScript too, but it will take you even more time to learn. To learn PHP, it will take you nearly a year. If you just focus on learning, it will at least take 3 months to become an intermediate. So, what'd you choose? Spending time learning these thigns or using a platform that lets you do everything in minutes. It is upon you on what you will decide.

WordPress or Website Builders

Website Builders are usually just drag-and-drop type tools. There are tons of such website builder platforms like Wix, Weebly, etc. These sites are usually good for one-pager websites. But, you want your website to look amazing with multiple pages divided into different contexts. It will be very difficult for you to do all these things. You have to drag items and place them. But, with WordPress, you can simply choose a theme and just add your content.

WordPress or other CMS

Now, it comes to other content management systems such as Joomla!, Drupal, Blogger, etc. Blogger could be as simple to use as WordPress, but you don't actually own your blog. Google owns it. You can't even upload anything except media files. Your site can get deleted at anytime without any decent reason and you have no right to fight for it. While talking about Drupal, you can't build a website with a Drupal like you do with Blogger, and WordPress. You need some advanced coding skills. It is tough to use Drupal as a content management system and you have to spend a lot of time learning how to use Drupal to build your site. Joomla! is easier to use than Drupal. However, to make things work as you would like to do, it will need you to have some coding skills. Otherwise Joomla! is same as Drupal. You won't be able to create a website in a design and functionality you are thinking of with Joomla! if you don't have basic coding skills. Blogger is actually not even a content management system. It is just a Google product that lets you create blogs. Now, WordPress comes as a dominant figure among these popular platforms. But, what about other CMS? There are tons of CMS available for you which are even easier to use than WordPress. But, they don't provide you enough features as WordPress does.

Why should you choose WordPress as a beginner?

There are many reasons behind why I am suggesting you to prefer WordPress to other web building platforms. Let's take a look at some of the main points that makes WordPress itself an amazing platform to create a website with!

WordPress is free and open-source. You can customize it in any way you like as well as distribute it.

WordPress is very easy-to-use. You can just install WordPress in your web hosting and setup your website within a few clicks. There are millions of free themes waiting for you that you can choose from to use on your website. You don't need any coding skills.

WordPress is highly customizable. With the use of WordPress, you can build any kind of website you like such as a website for your business, an online store, a blog, a news portal or a personal diary website.

If you have some basic coding skills, you can prefer going over to Joomla! or other content management systems as well. But, if you are a starter, I highly recommend you to use WordPress for your website instead of wasting time thinking about how to build a website.

Today, I will guide you through the different steps how you can use WordPress to make your website. Before getting started, you need a few things; a domain name, and a web hosting.

I will also guide you on how you can choose the best web hosting service provider for your website. A web hosting service provider is compulsory since it is the place where you will host your website. Without a web hosting service provider, it is like trying to build a house in air; the house will never be built. A domain name is a particular web address that identifies your website. For example, google.com is a domain name that takes you to the search engine giant, Google.

Right now, you have selected a platform to build your own website, which is free and easy-to-use and doesn't require any coding skills. You don't have to download anything at this period. What you need to do now is to find a domain name and a stable web hosting service.

Choosing a Domain Name and a Web Hosting

To build your website with WordPress, you will require two things.

A domain name (web address), and

A web hosting (the place where you keep your site contents)

WordPress is a free and open-source platform. However, you require a web hosting service to install WordPress and set up your website. A domain name is the web address that takes the visitors to your website.

A domain name usually costs around $10 a year, and a web hosting service usually costs around $3 to $7 a month. To choose your domain name, you can think of a name that identifies an individual, a brand or a business that you want your website for. If you want a website for your individual and personal purposes, and if you are a freelancer, it is highly recommended to get a domain name having your name in it. For example, if your name is John Doe, you can register a domain name johndoe.com.

If you are trying to build a website for a brand or a business, you can consider using a keyword that best identifies your brand or business. But, every domain names you'd like to register aren't available, since some of them are already registered by someone.

If you want to check whether a domain you want is available to register or not, you can just go to WHOIS.COM and type in the domain name you'd like to check. As an example, I am checking mywebsite.com. When I entered mywebsite.com in WHOIS.COM, I obtained this result:

How to Make a Website | WHOIS

If you get something like this that tells the domain information, then that means the domain you are checking for is already registered by someone else. Now, you need to check for another domain name that matches your brand.

Having your own domain name is far better and more professional than using those free subdomains like yourname.blogspot.com. Hosting your site in your own hosting account is also comfortable and you can be sure that your site is forever up and running. The page speed is also far better in your own hosting than using free hosting services.

There are hundreds of popular and trusted web hosting service providers around the world that also let you register your own domain. GoDaddy, Bluehost, SiteGround, etc. are some of the most popular ones. You can prefer any of them.

Where can I get a domain name and a web hosting service?

If you are looking for a domain name and a web hosting service for your website, the best place I recommend to you is Bluehost. You don't even have to look for another company if you prefer Bluehost. They provide you amazing service and their customer support team are also well-experienced and friendly. One good thing about Bluehost is that if you are getting a hosting from them, you get a domain name for free.

Yes, that's right. The domain name you'd be getting for free isn't those country-code top level domains like .ml, .tk, etc., but it is an actual world-class top level domain. You get a .com domain for free with the purchase of a web hosting from Bluehost. You will also get an email account under your own domain name for free. For example, if you get a domain yourname.com from Bluehost, you can get a personal email account you@yourname.com for free. Having your own personal email address under your own domain name is far more professional than having an email account under Google Mail (G-mail) or Yahoo!.

Here are some of the reasons why I prefer Bluehost:

Bluehost offers you a free domain when you purchase a web hosting plan from them.

Bluehost also provides you a feature to install WordPress automatically just with a few clicks.

Their customer support team is highly friendly and supportive.

They also provide your money back to you if you aren't satisfied with their service.

You can get a free personal email address under your domain name with Bluehost. For example, you@yourwebsite.com.

In this guide, I am going to show you how you can get a domain name and a web hosting service from Bluehost so that you can set up your own website based on WordPress.

Before getting started, I want to let you know that you can directly skip to the part where I am setting up a website if you already own a domain name and web hosting.

Here's a special offer for you! Since I'm a customer of Bluehost myself, I'm giving the visitors of my blog a special discount of 45%. Just what you have to do is to click on the link and press the "Get Started Now" button.

How to Make a Website | Bluehost

Step 2: Select a Web Hosting Plan

When you click on the "Get Started Now" button, you will be redirected to a webpage where you will three different hosting plans to select from; "basic, "plus" and "choice plus" plans.

If you are just a starter and planning to start a new website, it is recommended for you to select the first option, "basic". Bluehost is providing a special discount of $2.75 a month at the moment which is usually available at $7.99 per month. So, you can grab the opportunity right now.

The next two plans are awesome, but for a new site, the extra features you get are useless. These plans are usually recommended for a large site where you will be getting tons of visitors everyday.

So, I recommend you to select the "basic" plan and get ready to set up your brand new website. Plus, you will be getting 45% discount in the current price if you sign up through the link given above. You can upgrade to an upper plan anytime you want.

How to Make a Website | Select a Hosting Plan

Step 3: Choose a Domain Name

After you select one of the hosting plans, preferably the "basic" plan, you will have to select a domain name for your website.

Here are some tips to select your domain name:

If you are a freelancer, or want a website for personal purpose, it is highly recommended to get a domain name that reflects your name or full name.

If you are creating a website for your brand, it is recommended to select a particular keyword or your brand name. But, at least the domain name needs to clearly identify your brand.

You can check whether the domain name you want to register or not is available for registration or not by going to WHOIS.COM and entering the domain name. If it's available, it's good for you. If it is already registered, you need to look for another domain name.

When I started out at first, most domains used to end with the .com, .net, .org, or .info top-level domain names. But, nowadays, domains reflecting particular service such as .tech, .blog, .website, .agency, etc. are also getting popular and are widely used.

My Recommendation: Better get a .com, .net or .org domain instead of a domain that particularly focuses on a single thing like .tech, .agency, etc.

How to Make a Website | Sign up now

In case you've already registered a domain name, you can enter it in the field at the right and click on "Next" button.

If you are going to register a new domain name, just enter the domain name in the field at the left and click on "Next" button.

If you want to register a domain name later during website setup, you shall wait for a few seconds until a box like this loads up:

How to Make a Website | Choose Free Domain Later

Here you will have to click on "Choose Free Domain Later" to select a domain name during the website setup period.

Step 4: Enter your Information

After you have chosen your domain name or skipped the part, now you will have to create your account. You can enter your personal details in the page that looks like this:

How to Make a Website | Account Information

Here you have to enter your first and last name, your country and your address information, your phone number, and finally your email address. A receipt will be provided to you through the email address you will be entering here.

You can leave the business name field blank if you don't have a business or don't want to mention your business.

Step 5: Payment Information and Package Details

A box like this might load while you scroll down to the payment information form in the same page:

How to Make a Website | Special Sign-Up Offer

You can claim a certain discount if you get this box where you have to select the "Claim Savings" button.

You will also see information like this where you can modify your package information as well as select some extra services that you'd like to have with your account. Bluehost also offers you a free SSL certificate with your domain name through Lets Encrypt. It is highly recommended that you get the Domain Privacy Protection service since it will hide your personal details while someone checks your domain at WHOIS.COM or any similar site. You can remove the default check-mark from other check-boxes except the Domain Privacy Protection checkbox. If you want to let everyone know that the domain is registered by you, you can remove the check-mark from the Domain Privacy Protection section as well.

Now, you can scroll down and enter your payment details. Before submitting, you have to put a check-mark at the "I have read and agree to Bluehost's Terms of Service and Cancellation Policy and acknowledge receipt of the Privacy Policy." section.

Finally, you can submit your information by clicking on the "Submit" button.

How to Make a Website | Payment Information

Step 6: Create your Bluehost Account Password

Once you have submitted your account information, package information and payment details, it's time to create a password to access to Bluehost account.

How to Make a Website | Create your password

Now, you have your own domain name and a Bluehost web hosting account, which means you are ready to create your own website with WordPress.

Create Your Website with WordPress

If you have purchased a domain name and web hosting, now you are about to create your own website.

The first thing you need to do now is to install WordPress in your website.

How to Install WordPress?

There are two different ways how you can install WordPress in your website. The first one is one-click automatic installation and the second one is manual installation.

First Method: One-click WordPress Installation

Bluehost provides you a feature that lets you install different content management systems, web builders and framework in just a single click, which is the famous 1-click installation. It makes it easier for you to install WordPress in your website.

You can see the 1-Click-Installation section in the control panel after you have signed up and logged in to your Bluehost account.

How to Make a Website | 1-Click-Installation

You can follow the instructions below to install WordPress with the famous 1-click-installation:

First, you need to login to your Bluehost account.

Now, you need to go to your account control panel.

You will see a "WordPress" icon under the "website" or "website builders" section of your control panel. Click on the icon!

Now, you have to select the domain where you are going to install WordPress.

To install WordPress, you can finally click on the "Install Now" button.

The installation will complete in a few seconds and there you have it. You have your own WordPress website.

You can also follow the manual method of WordPress installation if you have some time instead of doing the automatic 1-click-installation.

Second Method: Manual WordPress Installation

Some of the web hosting service providers mayn't provide the one-click-installation feature. Maybe you'd like to try out the manual process even though you have the one-click-installation feature. You can go through the instructions below to install WordPress manually in your website:

Download a FTP tool like FileZilla and enter the FTP address as ftp.mywebsite.com and enter your hosting username and password and log into the FTP. If this FTP address doesn't work, you can see your account details or contact the Bluehost customer support team.

If you find any named index, index.php or index.html, delete that file and upload all the contents of the downloaded folder at that location with FileZilla.

Now, visit mywebsite.com/wp-admin/install.php and you will see the WordPress installation page. Enter your site title, and username and password for admin account and click on the "Install WordPress" button.

That's it! You just installed WordPress on your website manually.

Once you have successfully completed the WordPress installation, now it is time to install a beautiful theme for your website.

Selecting the Best Theme for Your Website

Now that you have installed WordPress in your website, you can visit your website; i.e. mywebsite.com. You will see a page like this:

How to Make a Website | Default WordPress Theme

But, this isn't what you want your website to look like.

Now, you need to find the perfect theme matching your requirements. Here's what you want your website to look like:

How to Make a Website

You want your website to look like this or anything that looks better than the default one. You don't have to worry about it. You still don't have to code a bit. There are millions of free WordPress themes waiting for you. You can choose any of them and install on your website.

How to Find the Best WordPress Theme

If you are willing to replace the default WordPress theme and make your website look good, first you have to install a good theme and activate it from your WordPress dashboard. Let me tell you how you can do so.

Step 1: Login to your WordPress Dashboard

To login to your WordPress dashboard, you need to visit mywebsite.com/wp-admin where you will see a login page asking you to enter username and password.

How to Make a Website | WordPress Login

You need to enter your WordPress administrator account username and password that you created while installing WordPress.

Here's what the dashboard looks like after you log in:

How to Make a Website | WordPress Dashboard

You can see all the options here in the sidebar menu. You can publish posts, pages, upload medias, manage and moderate comments, manage plugins and from the Appearance option, you can manage themes as well as customize your site appearance.

Step 2: Finding Themes

After you've reached the WordPress Dashboard, just select the Appearance option in the sidebar and select Themes.

When you get into the Themes page, you will see something like this:

How to Make a Website | Themes

When you reach this page, you need to click on the Add New button. You will see a page like this where you can find tons of free WordPress themes:

How to Make a Website | Free WordPress Themes

You can just scroll down to see list of featured themes you can choose from. You can also select the Popular option to see most popular themes. From the Latest option, you can see the latest WordPress themes.

You may also type a particular keyword in the search box to find themes matching your criteria.

You can also find a theme based upon what you need by selecting Feature Filter. You will be given the option to choose from different topics you want to search themes on. Here's what you will get when you click on the Feature Filter option.

How to Make a Website | Find Themes

You can select any of the themes you'd like and click on the Install button.

How to Make a Website | Install & Activate a Theme

After you click on the Install button, the theme will start downloading into your web hosting instead of your computer directly. When it is finished downloading, it will ask you to Activate the theme.

You can click on the Activate button to activate the theme and start customizing it as per your need.

Here's what I recommend you while choosing a Theme:

You need to choose a theme which is responsive and doesn't include any harmful codes. A responsive theme refers to a theme which looks friendly on every device such as phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. If you are sure that the theme you'd like to install is responsive, you can install it.

But, if you are unsure about a particular theme, you can first see the reviews from users for that theme before you install it on your website. There are several people who insert malicious codes into paid themes and provide for free, which in turn leads you to provide them access to your website without letting you know.

Most of the themes which are included in the Theme Library of WordPress that you can find and install from your WordPress dashboard are usually secure and don't harm your website. But, if you are searching for themes from other websites, you need to make sure that it doesn't contain any malicious codes and scripts.

Remember! Don't download a nulled premium themes from websites! These themes are cracked version of premium themes and available to you for free, but the people who upload them and make available to you for free usually insert harmful codes into the theme files. So, it is highly recommended that you shouldn't install a theme that claims to be a nulled premium theme.

You don't have to worry about any previously installed themes because you can activate it at anytime in the future when you want it. If you no longer require a theme, you can select it from the Themes page and delete it. But, to delete an activated theme, you need to activate another theme first and then delete the theme you'd want to.

You shouldn't as well worry about the posts and pages you've created in your website while installing themes. Your posts and pages won't be affected while changing themes. So, you can freely change the themes at anytime you want without having to backup your site contents. But, if you are installing a premium theme that you got for free, you need to make sure that you have created a backup because you will never know when your site is going to be hacked by people who might have inserted malicious codes into the theme files.

How to Add Contents to the Website

If you are willing to add posts or pages into your website, you can simply do so from the WordPress dashboard.

Adding a New Post

To add a new post into your website, you need to follow the instructions below:

First, log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Now, select the Posts option from the sidebar.

Click on Add New button. You will be presented with an interface similar to a text editing software you use on your computer.

You can write post title and post contents as well as make categories from the text editing interface. You can also insert featured images.

After you are done writing your post contents, you can finally decide whether to Publish the post or schedule it or just save it into the drafts to publish whenever you want.

Adding a New Page

Since you have your own website now, you need to have some pages to let your visitors know who you are and what you do. You can create pages like About, Services, Contact, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, etc. easily. Here's what you need to do!

First, log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Pages option from the sidebar.

Click on the Add New option under the Pages option in the sidebar or in the Pages page.

You will see a similar interface as you did while adding new posts. You can write your page title and page contents and publish it whenever you want.

Adding a Page to Website Menu

After you have created a page, you want to make sure that it appears in the menu. By default, it doesn't appear. You've to add it manually unless you have set the menu to update automatically when a new page is created. Here's what you need to do to insert pages or links into the menu!

First, log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Now, select the Appearance option from the sidebar and select the Menus option under it.

You will see your site menus there. You can also find your pages yet to be inserted into the menu at the left part of the window next to the sidebar. You can easily select the page you want to include and click on the Add to Menu button.

Now, you can save the menu by clicking on the Save Menu button.

Note:

If you want to add pages or links to other menus of the website, you can just choose a menu from the drop-down option next to the Select a menu to edit: text and then click on the Select button to edit the menu.

If you want any top-level pages that you create on your website to be included into the menu automatically, you can select the Auto add pages option at the bottom under the Menu Settings sub-heading.

How to Make a Website | Menus

Updating Posts

You can easily update the already-created posts by following the instructions below:

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Posts option in the sidebar and select the All Posts option under it.

You'll be presented with a page containing all your posts. You can click on a particular post title and you will see the same editing interface you see while inserting posts or pages. You can easily change the post contents from the interface.

When you are done editing your post, you need to save the changes. To do so, you can click on the Update button.

Now, you can visit your website and see the updated post.

Note:

If you mistakenly made unnecessary changes into the post, you don't need to worry about it. WordPress stores all the versions of your posts in your database. You can just go to the post you want to revert the changes from the WordPress dashboard and select the Revisions option above the Publish or Update button to see previously-saved versions of your posts.

Updating Pages

Updating a page is just the same as updating a post in WordPress. You can do so as mentioned in the steps below:

First, log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Now, select the Pages option from the sidebar and select the All Pages option under it.

You will see a page containing all your created pages. You can click on the one you want to edit and make the necessary changes and update it in the same way as updating posts.

Creating Categories

You can easily create categories and page slugs for those categories from the Categories option under the Posts option in your WordPress dashboard. Here are the steps you need to follow!

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Posts option and you will see the Categories option under it. Select the Categories option.

Now, you can see a page that allows you to create categories as well as see previously created categories.

You can also edit created categories from the same page as well as manage the URL/slugs for the categories. Instead of going to this page, you can also create new categories directly from the post writing interface. The option to insert the post into a category or create a new category and insert it would be just below the post publishing options.

Inserting Categories into Menu

Just like you insert pages into the menus in your website, you can also insert categories so that your site visitors can easily see all the posts under a particular category just by clicking on the menu. Here's what you need to do!

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Appearance option and select the Menus option under it.

Select the Menu where you want to insert the category link from the drop-down next to Select a menu to edit: text and click on the Select button.

Now, you can see options to insert Pages, Posts, Custom Links or Categories into the menu. Click on Categories and you will see all the categories in your site. You can select a category and click on the Add to Menu button to insert it into your website menu.

After you have inserted the category into the menu, you can click on the Save Menu button to save the changes.

You can also insert your social media links or video links as well as posts into the menu in the same way.

Creating Tags

Tags are similar to categories, but these aren't what actually defines your posts. Categories define the type of posts and posts define what tags are used in it. Tags aren't usually used in posts, but if you are interested, you can use tags in your posts. Here are the ways you can create tags.

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Posts option and select the Tags option under it.

Now, you can easily manage previously created tags or create new tags and save them from the page you'd see.

You can also create new tags much easier than the categories from the interface to write posts. Just below the option to choose categories, you'll see an option to write tags for your post. You can easily create tags from the post writing interface and save them automatically with the saving of your post.

Uploading Images & PDFs

You can also upload images and PDFs into your website without inserting them directly into the posts or pages. Here are the steps you can do so!

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Media option in the sidebar,

You will see all the uploaded images and files in the Media page. You will also have the option to upload new files from the same page. You can also change the attributes of these files or delete them permanently from your website to maintain disk space.

Site Customization

There are unlimited number of tweaks that you can perform in your website just from the WordPress dashboard. You can insert plugins to add extra features into your site or you can manage the contents in your sidebar. You can also add new users into your site.

How to Make a Website | Widgets

Editing the Site Widgets

To insert widgets such as Recent Posts, Recent Comments, Popular Posts, or posts under certain category, you can follow the instructions below:

First, log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Appearance option and select the Widgets option under it.

You can see a page as shown in the image above. You will see the existing widgets in your site as well as a lot of widgets that you can insert into your site.

If you want to insert a new widget from the list of widgets, just drag it to the location where you want to place it or click on it and select the location. You can also edit the title to show for the widget in your website. If you do so, just click on the Save button and click on Done.

The Meta and Archives widgets that are present in your website sidebar by default are usually of no use. You might want to delete this useless widget. If you want to delete a widget, just click on it and click on Delete option.

Installing Plugins

Plugins can be used to access even more features out of your website. There are thousands of free plugins that you can use to improve the design of the themes, add new objects into your site or perform amazing tasks with your website. You can extra functions in your website with the use of different WordPress plugins.

You can use some plugins to optimize your site, add new type of already-existing WordPress features, etc.

It's very easy to install a plugin in your website through the WordPress dashboard.

Step 1: Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Before changing contents in your site, logging into the WordPress dashboard is compulsory. Make sure you are logged in before going over to the next step!

Step 2: Installing Plugin

After you have reached the WordPress dashboard, you need to select the Plugins option in the sidebar menu. When you are in the Plugins page, you can activate or remove previously installed plugins as well as install new plugins.

How to Make a Website | Plugins

To install a new plugin, click on the Add New button in the page that looks like this.

You will be presented with a page just like the page where you can find themes. In this page, you can search for plugins to install or install a featured/popular plugin.

How to Make a Website | Installing Plugins

You can choose the plugin you'd like to install and click on the Install Now button.

When the plugin is installed, you will receive the Activate button to activate the plugin. However, activating the plugin at this time isn't compulsory. You can activate it at anytime from the Plugins page when you want to use the plugin.

Here are some of the most recommended plugins for you to install on your website:

Yoast SEO for WordPress: This plugin is available for free in the WordPress plugin installation page. You can later upgrade to the premium version for extra features. However, you can get amazing features in the free version as well. This plugin is a must-have plugin if you want to make your website friendly with the search engines. It also helps to track the SEO and readability of your posts and pages. It lets you edit the title, descriptions and mention a focus keyword for your post for feeding to the search engines. You don't even have to do these things from the plugin settings. It stores this option at the post writing interface just below the main window where you write post contents.

Google Analytics: If you are eager to know about your visitors and traffic in your website, you can install the Google Analytics plugin from the WordPress plugin installation page for free. After activating the plugin, you just have to connect it with your Google account.

Contact Form 7: If you want to insert a contact form wherever and whenever you want in your website, you can use this plugin. This plugin is available for free in the WordPress plugin installation page. It lets your visitors fill in their names and submit messages to your e-mail account without having to login to their email accounts.

These are just the most recommended plugins that I prefer. There are thousands of other free and awesome plugins you can install on your website.

Changing your Site Title and Tagline

Your site title is the main thing that tells your visitors or possible visitors what your website is related to. It plays a huge role in improving your site rankings in the search engines. It is recommended to use a proper keyword while creating a site title for your website. You need to use unique title on each and every page of your website to prevent duplicate contents.

Your site taglines are like the short description or motto of your website. It describes about you, your brand or your business in short. It is recommended to set the site taglines to a maximum of 10 words, but there's no limit on how long you want it to be.

How to Make a Website | General Settings

If you want to edit your site title and tagline, it is very simple. You just have to select the Settings option at the bottom of the sidebar menu and go to the General page.

After you have made the changes, it is time to make it online. Just scroll down and click on the Save Changes button.

Do you want to disable comments on new posts or pages you create on your website by default?

By default, anyone is allowed to comment on any pages or posts in your website. If you don't want to let your visitors comment on any new posts or pages you create on your website, you can follow the instructions below:

Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Click on Settings option in the sidebar.

Click on Discussion option under the Settings option.

Remove the check-mark from the "Allow people to post comments on new articles" option.

Scroll down and click on the Save Changes button.

Using a Different Front Page

You might want to make your website look like an actual site, and not like a blog post or a blog. It is very easy to do so and get rid of having your blog posts come at the top of page.

To do so, you have to set your front page to a static page. A static page means a page where the contents stay as they are. In a blog, the new posts come up at the top of the website. But, if you set your front page to static, your site homepage will be a static page and appears in the same way as you have customized it. You will get rid of having your blog posts appear at the top of the website below the header.

Here's how you can set a static front page!

First, make sure you are logged in to the WordPress dashboard.

Select the Settings option at the bottom of the sidebar and select Reading under it.

How to Make a Website | Front Page

Select A static page option and select the page that you'd like to show as a homepage in the Homepage drop-down list. You can also define a particular page as a page to display all your posts as it would show in the homepage when you select Your latest posts option by default.

Now, scroll down and save the changes by clicking on the Save Changes button

If you don't select any page as the homepage, then it would continue showing your latest posts in the front page of your website.

Now, you are done! You can finally launch your website to the general public.

After you follow this guide and do things as required, you can finally check out your website once and you will experience it in the way you had thought about. Now, you are ready to launch your website by sharing it on social media as well as advertising.

But still, you aren't totally done. You need to keep upgrading your website and adding/removing contents as well as stay focused on tracking the behavior of your website visitors. Also, check our another post related to how to start a blog.

You shouldn't forget that you are using a platform that can be customized in any way you like —WordPress. You can test new themes and customize your website in any way you like with WordPress.

If you have any further queries over the steps to make a website, you can write down in the comments below. I will try to answer back to you as soon as possible.